Bryce Petty taken by Jets after deal with Jaguars

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - The Jets may have found their quarterback of the future. And it's not Geno Smith.

Just minutes into the fourth round of the NFL Draft Saturday, they traded up one spot to snag Baylor's Bryce Petty with the 103rd overall pick.

Knowing other teams were eyeing their target, the Jets traded their fourth-round pick (No. 104) to the Jaguars along with the seventh-round pick (No. 229) that they acquired Friday night from the Texans.

According to NFL.com, the Browns -- who are coached by former Jets coordinator Mike Pettine -- were in talks with the Jaguars about moving up in the draft order to take Petty. But Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan made sure the quarterback would be his.

For Petty, the wait to hear his name called seemed like an eternity.

"That was the longest 48 hours I've ever had in my life," he said, laughing, during a conference call with reporters. "As soon as they called, it was unbelievable."

He threw for 8,055 yards, 61 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and won 21 games the past two seasons. But there are concerns about him being a one-read system quarterback.

At 6-3, 230 pounds, Petty looks the part of an NFL quarterback, and he's described as a "gym rat" who has a strong arm and works on his craft. He wasn't, however, asked to go through NFL progressions and isn't ready to be a full-time starter.

But the Jets understand this, and they're fully prepared to invest in his learning curve.

"We do think that Bryce has a high ceiling. We do like him," Maccagnan said, adding that the risk/reward for moving up to get the quarterback was "a fair price."

" . . . He has all the pieces we would think to potentially be a good quarterback in the NFL,'' Maccagnan said. "And time will tell what level of player he becomes."

Coach Todd Bowles said Smith will get first-team reps to start training camp and Ryan Fitzpatrick will work with the second-team offense, followed by backup Matt Simms and Petty.

"We're not looking for him to be a starter right now . . . We're trying to develop him," Bowles said, noting that the coaching staff will have to change Petty's footwork, among other things. "But he's a smart person. So developing him, with his brain and his physical ability, is something we hope we can put together over the course of time."

Petty also believes he can have a bright future.

He said he and new Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey went through "a mini-install" exercise during his visit last month.

"It was a lot of the same things that we did [at Baylor]," said Petty, who led the Bears to the Big 12 championship in 2013, his first season as a starter. He threw for 4,200 yards and 32 touchdowns with only three interceptions that year and also had 14 rushing touchdowns.

He added, "I'm definitely excited about getting into the film room with him and understanding the way things work."

As for his critics, Petty said: "It's all about the person. My desire is to be the best regardless of what system I'm in. What I was asked to do in college [run a spread offense], it's different. But it's not that I couldn't do a pro-style offense or a West Coast offense. That's just what I was told to do, so I did it. And I did it to the best of my ability."